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DEFENCE  OF  VIVISECTION. 


Resolutions  Adopted  by  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation, May  6th,  1896. 

Whekeas,  the  members  of  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion recognize  the  fact  that  the  development  of  scientific 
medicine  has  resulted  largely  from  experiments  upon  the 
lower  animals  ;  and 

Whereas,  anaesthetics  are  habitually  administered  to  ani- 
mals subjected  to  painful  experiments  ;  and 

Whereas,  restrictive  legislation  is,  in  our  opinion,  unnec- 
essary and  opposed  to  the  continued  progress  of  medical  sci- 
ence ;  and 

Whereas,  it  is  an  unjust  reflection  upon  the  humanity  of 
those  engaged  in  animal  experimentation  to  enact  laws  re- 
quiring them  to  use  anaesthetics  and  appointing  inspectors 
to  see  that  they  do  so;  and 

Whereas,  far  more  unnecessary  pain  is  constantly  being 
inflicted  upon  the  lower  animals  for  sport  and  for  gain  than 
in  biological  and  pathological  laboratories  ;  and 

Whereas,  no  evidence  has  been  presented  by  those  who 
advocate  restrictive  legislation  showing  that  abuses  exist  in 
the  District  of  Columbia;  and 

Whereas,  results  of  great  practical  importance  have  been 
obtained  by  experiments  on  the  lower  animals  made  in  the 
Government  laboratories  in  the  District  of  Columbia  : 

Therefore^  he  it  resolved,  That  the  American  Medical  As- 
sociation earnestly  protests  against  the  passage  of  Senate  bill 
No.  1552,  entitled  "A  bill  for  the  further  prevention  of  cru- 
elty to  animals  in  the  District  of  Columbia,"  or  any  modifi- 
cation of  this  bill,  unless  it  shall  first  be  shown  by  an  impar- 
tial investigation  that  cruel  and  unnecessary  experiments  are 


2 

being  performed  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  that  exist- 
ing laws  do  not  provide  suitable  punishment  for  cruelty  to 
the  domestic  animals. 

Resolved,  That  copies  of  these  resolutions,  attested  by  the 
signatures  of  the  President  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation and  of  its  committee  appointed  to  draft  these  resolu- 
tions, be  sent  to  the  chairmen  of  the  Committees  on  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  Sen- 
ate of  the  United  States. 

(Signed)         Beverly  Cole,  M.  D.  (San  Francisco), 

President,  American  Medical  Association. 
"  Nicholas  Senn,  M.  D.  (Chicago), 

President-elect,  American  Medical  Association . 
Wm.  Osler,  M.  D.  (Baltimore). 
"  J.  McFadden  Gaston,  M.  D.  (Atlanta). 

Geo.  M.  Gould,  M.  D.  (Philadelphia). 
"  Donald  McLean,  M.  D.  (Detroit). 

Philadelphia,  May  V6th,  1896. 
The  undersigned,  members  of  the  Association  of  Military 
Surgeons  of  the  United  States,  now  holding  its  sixth  annual 
meeting  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  respectfully  join  in  the 
protest  of  the  American  Medical  Association  as  set  forth  in 
the  accompanying  resolutions  adopted  by  that  representative 
body  of  American  physicians  and  surgeons  at  their  recent 
meeting  in  the  city  of  Atlanta. 

Among  the  names  attached  to  this  memorial  are  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Colonel  Louis  Read,  Surgeon-General  of  Pennsylvania, 
President  Ass'n  of  Militar}'  Surgeons,  U.  S. 

A.  L.  Gihon,  M.  D.,  Medical  Director,  U.  S.  N.  (retired), 
President-elect  Ass'n  of  Military  Surgeons,  U.  S. 

Colonel  Charles  H.  Alden,  Ass't  Surgeon-General,  U.  S. 
A.,  Vice-President  Ass'n  of  Military  Surgeons,  U.  S. 

Colonel  Nicholas  Senn,  Surgeon-General  of  Illinois,  ex- 
President  Ass'n  of  Military  Surgeons,  U.  S. 


General  F.  C.  Thayer,  Surgeon-General  of  Maine. 

General  E.  J.  Forster,  Surgeon-General  of  Massachusetts. 

General  Geo.  A.  Bowen,  Surgeon-General  of  Connecticut. 

General  John  F.  Fulton,  Surgeon-General  of  Minnesota. 

Major  George  Henderson,  Surgeon-General  D.  C.  National 
Guard. 

General  F.  W.  Byers,  Surgeon-General  of  Wisconsin. 

General  James  L.  Priestley,  Surgeon-General  of  Iowa. 

Lieut.  Col.  Chas.  M.  Woodward,  Surgeon-General  of 
Michigan  (retired). 

Lieut.  Col.  Leonard  B.  Aliny,  Medical  Director  Connecti- 
cut National  Guard. 

Memorial  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences. 

(  Washington,  D.  C,  Aj^ril  24,  1896. 

To  the  Honorable  Jacob  H.  Gallinger, 

Chairman  of  the  sub- Committee,  etc.  : 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  a 
letter  addressed  to  you  by  D.  E.  Salmon,  the  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  J.  E.  Tryon,  Surgeon-General 
IT.  S.  Navy,  George  M.  Sternberg,  Surgeon-General  L^.  S. 
Army,  and  Walter  Wyman,  Surgeon-General  U.  S.  Marine 
Hospital  Service,  asking  that  the  National  Academy  of 
Sciences  be  called  upon  to  express  an  opinion  as  to  the 
scientific  value  of  experiments  upon  lower  animals  and  as  to 
the  probable  effect  of  restrictive  legislation  upon  the  advance- 
ment of  biological  science.  The  letter  of  these  gentlemen  is 
supplemented  by  an  expression  of  your  desire  that  the  Na- 
tional Academy  of  Sciences  should  report  or  make  sugges- 
tions upon  the  subject.  In  accordance  with  your  request 
I  have  the  honor  to  submit  to  you  the  following  report  as 
the  unanimous  expression  of  the  opinion  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences. 

Biology  is  the  science  of  living  organisms  and  tissues,  and 
must  therefore  advance  by  means  of  observations  and  exper- 


iinents  made  on  living  beings.  One  of  its  most  important 
branches,  viz.,  physiology,  or  the  science  which  deals  with 
all  the  phenomena  of  life,  from  the  activity  of  bacteria  to 
that  of  the  brain-cell  of  man,  forms  the  foundation  upon 
which  the  science  and  practice  of  medicine  are  built  up,  since 
a  knowledge  of  the  bodily  functions  in  their  normal  state  is 
essential  for  the  understanding  and  treatment  of  those  de- 
rangements of  function  which  constitute  disease. 

The  fact  that  the  pursuit  of  physiology  consists  chiefly 
in  the  study  of  physical  and  chemical  phenomena,  as  mani- 
fested by  living  beings,  makes  it  necessary  that  physiology 
should  be  studied  by  experimental  methods.  \  The  physiol- 
ogist, no  less  than  the  physicist  and  chemist,  can  expect  ad- 
vancement of  his  science  only  as  the  result  of  carefully 
planned  laboratory  work.  If  this  work  is  interfered  with, 
medical  science  will  continue  to  advance  as  heretofore,  by 
means  of  experiment,  for  no  legislation  can  aflfect  the  posi- 
tion of  physiology  as  an  experimental  science  ;  but  there  will 
be  this  important  difference :  that  the  experimenters  will 
be  medical  practitioners,  and  the  victims  human  beings. 

That  animals  must  suffer  and  die  for  the  benefit  of  man- 
kind is  a  law  of  nature  from  which  we  cannot  escape  if  we 
would,  and  as  long  as  man  claims  dominion  over  the  brute 
creation  and  asserts  his  right  to  kill  and  mutilate  animals  in 
order  to  obtain  food  and  clothing,  and  even  for  purposes  of 
amusement  and  adornment,  it  is  surely  unreasonable  to  wage 
a  humanitarian  warfare  against  the  only  kind  of  pain-giving 
practice  that  has  for  its  object  the  relief  of  pain. 

The  death  of  an  animal  in  a  physiological  laboratory  is 
usually  attended  with  less  suffering  than  is  associated  with 
so-called  natural  death,  for  the  discovery  of  anjiesthetics  has 
extended  its  beneficent  influence  over  the  lower  animals  as 
well  as  over  the  human  race,  and  in  modern  laboratories 
annesthetics  are  always  employed  except  when  the  operation 
involves  less  suffering  to  the  animal  than  the  administration 
of  the  anjTBsthetic  (as  in  the  case  of  inoculation),  or  in  those 


instances  in  which   the   anaesthetic  would  interfere  with  the 
object  of  the  experiment. 

The  suiiering  incident  to  biological  investigations  is  there- 
fore trifling  in  amount,  and  far  less  than  that  Avhich  is  asso- 
ciated with  most  other  uses  which  man  makes  of  the  lower 
animals  for  purposes  of  business  or  pleasure. 

As  an  offset  to  this  trifling  amount  of  animal  suffering  are 
to  be  placed  incalculable  benefits  to  the  human  race.  From 
the  time  when  Aristotle  first  discovered  the  insensibility  of 
the  brain  to  the  time  when  the  latest  experiments  in  the  use 
of  antitoxine  have  largely  robbed  diphtheria  of  its  terrors, 
almost  every  important  advance  in  the  science  of  medicine 
has  been  the  direct  or  the  indirect  result  of  knowledge  ac- 
quired through  animal  experimentation. 

It  is,  of  course,  conceivable  that  persons  whose  occupa- 
tions lead  them  to  sacrifice  animal  life  for  scientific  pur- 
poses may  at  times  pay  too  little  regard  to  the  suffering  which 
they  inflict,  but  the  academy  understands  that  even  those 
who  advocate  restrictive  legislation  by  Congress  do  not  claim 
that  such  abuses  exist  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  until 
evidence  of  this  sort  is  presented  it  would  seem  to  be  the 
part  of  wisdom  to  leave  the  regulation  of  research  in  the 
hands  of  the  governing  bodies  of  the  institutions  in  which 
the  work  is  going  on.  The  men  engaged  in  this  work  are 
actuated  by  motives  no  less  humane  than  those  which  guide 
the  persons  who  desire  to  restrict  their  action,  while  of  the 
value  of  any  given  experiment  and  the  amount  of  suffering 
which  it  involves  they  are,  owing  to  their  special  training, 
much  better  able  to  judge.  When  the  men  to  whom  the 
Government  has  entrusted  the  care  of  its  higher  institutions 
of  research  shall  show  themselves  incapable  of  administer- 
ing them  in  the  interest  of  science  and  humanity,  then,  and 
not  till  then,  will  it  be  necessary  to  invoke  the  authority  of 
the  national  legislature. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir. 

Yours  very  respectfully, 
(Signed)       "^WOLCOTT  GIBBS, 
President  Natwnal  Academy  of  Sciences. 


6 


Resolutions  of  the  Association  of  American  Medical 

Colleges. 

In  view  of  the  proposed  legislation  now  before  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  the  Association  of  American 
Medical  Colleges,  representing  the  colleges  of  the  country, 
passed  the  following  resolutions  : 

"Association  of  American  Medical  Colleges, 

"Atlanta,  Ga.,  May  4,  1896  : 

"  Whereas,  There  is  a  bill  at  present  pending  before  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  entitled  'An  act  to  prevent 
cruelty  to  animals  in  the  District  of  Columbia,'  which  prac- 
tically curtails  experimentation  upon  animals,  and  would 
eventually  put  a  stop  to  medical  research  ;  and, 

"  Whereas,  Such  legislation  would  be  used  to  influence 
similar  legislation  in  the  States  which  would  prevent  the  ad- 
vancement of  medical  science  and  medical  education  ;  and, 

"  Whereas,  Such  legislation  would  be  very  injurious  and 
detrimental,  and  is  not  called  for  by  any  existing  facts  of 
cruel  experiment,  as  the  advocates  of  the  bill  themselves 
concede  so  far  as  the  District  of  Columbia  is  concerned : 
be  it 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Association  of  American  Medical 
Colleges,  now  in  session  at  Atlanta,  presents  these  resolutions 
as  a  memorial  to  Congress  to  be  made  a  matter  of  official 
record  and  protest  against  the  enactment  of  such  legislation, 
declaring  it  to  be  needless  and  injurious. 

"  Resolved  further,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be 
sent  to  The  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association 
and  printed  and  reported  to  the  different  medical  colleges  of 
the  United  States,  with  the  request  that  they  adopt  suitable 
measures  which  will  tend  to  prevent  any  legislation  by  Con- 
gress that  would  interfere  with  animal  experimentation." 


Memorial  of  the  Association  of  American  Physicians. 

The  Association  of  American  Physicians,  assembled  in 
annnal  session  at  Washington,  D.  C,  May  2,  1896,  by 
unanimous  vote  and  b}'  the  appended  signatures  of  its 
officers  and  members,  hereby  records  its  most  earnest  pro- 
test against  such  legislation  as  that  proposed  by  the  bill 
entitled  "A  bill  for  the  further  prevention  of  cruelty  to 
animals  in  the  District  of  Columbia" — Senate  Bill  1552 — 
in  so  far  as  this  legislation  embodies  measures  intended  to 
control  and  restrict  experimentation  upon  animals  con- 
ducted in  the  Government  laboratories,  the  medical  schools 
and  other  institutions  of  the  higher  learning  in  the  District 
of  Columbia.  In  making  this  protest  the  Association  begs 
to  present  to  the  members  of  Congress  the  following  con- 
siderations : 

Experimentation  upon  animals  is  an  absolutely  indis- 
pensable and  the  most  important  method  of  investigation 
of  the  properties  of  living  organisms,  and  of  the  influences 
which  modify  these  properties.  The  science  and  the  art 
of  medicine  are  based  upon  the  knowledge  of  the  structure 
and  the  functions  of  living  matter,  and  consequently  in 
large  part  upon  knowledge  which  has  been  obtained  by 
experiments  upon  animals  and  which  could  have  been 
gained  in  no  other  way. 

The  benefits  to  mankind  of  the  knowledge  thus  acquired 
are  of  inestimable  value.  To  mention  only  a  few  of  the 
results  obtained  wuthin  recent  years  by  animal  experimen- 
tation, attention  is  called  to  the  discoveries  which  have 
revolutionized  surgical  practice  by  the  introduction  of 
antiseptic  methods  of  treatment,  which  have  rendered  in- 
frequent the  occurrence  of  childbed  fever,  which  have 
made  it  possible  to  prevent  the  development  of  hydrophobia 
after  the  bite  of  rabid  animals,  which  have  furnished  an 
efficacious  method  of  cure  of  the  otherwise  incurable  dis- 


8 

ease,  myxoedema,  and  which,  by  the  antitoxin  treatment, 
have  greatly  lessened  the  fatality  of  diphtheria.  By  these 
and  similar  discoveries  derived  from  experiments  upon 
animals,  untold  thousands  of  human  lives  have  been 
rescued  which  would  otherwise  surely  have  perished. 

The  saving  of  animal  life  itself  and  the  consequent 
commercial  profits  resulting  from  knowledge  gained  by 
experiments  upon  animals  have  been  enormous.  The 
benefits  derived  from  experiments  upon  animals  largely  go 
to  the  improvement  of  the  public  health  and  the  preven- 
tion of  infectious  diseases.  Their  immediate  value  is  often 
not  recognizable  by  the  individual,  unless  he  has  informed 
himself  upon  subjects  which  are  in  large  measure  of  a 
technical  nature  and  belong  to  the  study  of  scientific 
experts. 

It  would  require  a  volume  to  set  forth  adequately  the 
results,  beneficial  to  mankind  and  to  animals,  of  knowledge 
derived  from  experiments  on  animals.  The  assertion  of 
many  opponents  of  vivisection,  that  knowledge  obtained 
from  animal  experimentation  and  which  could  be  obtained 
in  no  other  way  has  been  of  little  or  no  benefit  to  man- 
kind, can  be  referred  only  to  ignorance  or  to  wilful  mis- 
representation. 

Never  was  there  a  time  in  which  experimental  medicine 
gave  promise  of  results  so  important  for  the  welfare  of 
mankind  as  those  which  we  may  reasonably  expect  in  the 
near  future,  and  never  was  there  so  little  justification  as  at 
present  to  hamper  in  any  way  the  work  of  those  engaged 
in  searching  by  the  experimental  method  for  means  of 
preventing  and  curing  disease. 

Obvious  as  are  such  beneficial  results  of  animal  experi- 
mentation as  those  specified, — and  many  other  similar 
instances  might  have  been  cited  by  way  of  illustration, — it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  full  significance  of  the 
importance  of    the    results    of   experimentation    upon  ani- 


mals  for  the  biological  and  the  medical  sciences  can  be 
adequately  appreciated  only  by  those  who  possess  special 
knowledge  of  these  sciences,  and  that  it  is  only  those  who 
are  thus  informed  who  can  fully  realize  the  injury  which 
would  be  inflicted  upon  these  sciences  and  upon  medicine 
by  such  legislation  as  that  contemplated  in  this  bill.  Upon 
this  matter  it  is  the  voice  of  science  and  of  medicine,  which 
is  likewise  the  voice  of  true  philanthropy,  which  should 
be  heard  and  which  should  control  legislative  action,  and 
not  that  of  those  who,  however  worthy  their  impulses, 
however  high  their  social  position,  however  great  their 
knowledge  in  other  departments,  do  not  possess  that 
special  knowledge  v.diich  renders  them  competent  to  judge 
of  the    merits  of  this  question. 

The  voice  of  science  and  of  medicine,  so  far  as  it  receives 
authoritative  utterance,  is  overwhelmingh-  opposed  to  legis- 
lation of  any  kind  which  would  take  in  any  measure  the 
direction  of  experimental  medicine  and  physiology  out  of 
the  hands  of  those  who  on  account  of  their  special  fitness 
have  been  chosen  by  the  authorities  of  our  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning  and  of  research  to  convey  instruction  and 
to  conduct  investigations  in  these  departments.  Uilneces- 
sary  and  offensive  in  the  highest  degree  would  it  be  by  any 
system  of  official  inspection,  such  as  that  proposed  in  this 
bill  and  which  might  readily  be  used  as  a  system  of  out- 
rageous espionage,  or  by  legislation  of  any  kind,  to  attempt 
to  dictate  or  control  how,  and  by  whom,  and  for  what 
purposes,  and  under  what  conditions,  and  upon  what 
animals  in  the  laboratories  and  the  institutions  of  the  higher 
learning  experiments  shall  be  made.  The  decision  as  to 
these  matters  should  be  left  whollv  to  those  in  charg-e  of 
these  institutions,  who  are  the  ones  most  competent  to 
judge  of  them. 

Those  engaged  in  <:he  Government  laboratories,  in  the 
medical  schools  and   the   universities  of   this  country,   in 


10 

teaching  and  in  investigations  which  require  experimenta- 
tion upon  animals,  can  be  safely  intrusted  with  this  function. 
To  say  the  least,  they  are  not  less  humane  than  are  those 
who  advocate  legislation  to  control  and  restrict  animal 
experimentation  in  these  institutions.  The  assertion  which 
has  been  made  by  anti-vivisectionists,  that  experimenta- 
tion on  animals  brutalizes  those  who  witness  and  practice 
it,  is  an  insult,  without  shadow  of  foundation,  to  a  class  of 
scientific  workers  devoted  to  the  investigation  of  problems 
of  the  highest  importance  to  the  welfare  of  mankind. 
Their  efforts  are  to  secure  the  desired  knowledge  by  in- 
fliction of  the  least  possible  needless  pain  upon  animals 
used  for  experimentation,  and  we  do  not  hesitate  to  assert 
that  this  solicitude  to  avoid  the  infliction  of  unnecessary 
pain  renders  them  more  susceptible  than  the  average  man 
to  actual  cruelty  to  animals. 

We  have  been  unable  to  learn  that  there  has  been  a 
single  instance  in  which  abuse  has  been  made  of  the  prac- 
tice of  animal  experimentation  in  the  Government  labora- 
tories, the  medical  schools  or  the  universities  of  the  District 
of  Columbia.  Any  legislation  which  proposes  in  any  way 
to  control,  restrict,  or  interfere  with  animal  experimenta- 
tion in  these  institutions  is,  therefore,  unnecessary,  as  well 
as  offensive  to  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  scientific  in- 
vestigations conducted  therein. 

If  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  opposition  of  the  great 
body  of  scientific  men  and  of  physicians  to  such  legislation 
as  that  proposed  in  this  bill,  we  beg  that  Congress  will  not 
take  action  favorable  to  this  bill  or  to  any  similar  one 
until  sufficient  time  has  been  given  for  a  full  expression  of 
opinion  from  scientific  and  medical  associations  through- 
out this  country,  for  the  matter  is  one  not  merely  of  local 
interest,  but  may  concern  the  future  progress  of  the 
biological  and  medical  sciences,  and  of  preventive  and 
curative  medicine  throughout  this  country. 


11 


A.  Jacobi,  jNI.  D.,  President^ 

NEW    YORK    CITY. 

Henry  Hun,  M.  D.,  Secretary^ 

ALBANY,  N.   Y. 

William  W.  Johnston,  M.  D.,  Treasurer^         Officers 

WASHINGTON    CITY.  '  -^ 

G.  Baumgarten,  M.  D.,  Councillor^ 

ST.    LOUIS,   MO. 

J.   H.  Graham,  M.  D.,  Councillor^ 

TORONTO,   CANADA. 

William  H.  Welch,  M.  D.,     "j 

BALTIMORE,    MD. 

William  Pepper,  M.  D., 

PHILADELPHIA,    PA. 

Victor  C.  Vaughn,  M.  D.,         .  Com^nittee. 

ANN    ARBOR,   MICH.        ' 

Robert  T.  Edes,  M.  D., 

BOSTON,   MASS.      . 

Theobald  Smith,  M.  D., 

BOSTON,    MASS. 

Names  of  Members  Omitted. 


MEMORIAL 

Adopted  by  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia at  a  meeting  held  on  Wednesday  evening,  April 
22,  1896. 

To  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  : 

Having  been  informed  that  an  effort  is  being  made  by  cer- 
tain citizens  of  this  District  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  bill 
to  prevent  experiments  upon  living  animals — Senate  Bill 
1552 — we  respectfully  submit  for  jouv  consideration  the  fol- 
lowing facts  and  arguments  in  opposition  to  this  bill : 

First.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  assert  that  without  such  ex- 
periments there  could  be  no  scientific  biology,  and  medicine 
would  have  no  scientific  basis.    Our  knowledge  of  physiology, 


V2 

of  toxicology,  and  of  the  action  of  many  important  medici- 
nal agents  has  been  largely  gained  in  this  way.  Our  pre- 
cise knowledge  of  the  etiology  of  a  considerable  number  of 
the  infectious  diseases  has  been  obtained  by  inoculating 
susceptible  animals  Avith  pure  cultures  of  the  various  patho- 
genic bacteria,  and  could  have  been  obtained  in  no  other 
way.  By  such  experiments  the  demonstration  has  been 
made  of  the  specific  pathogenic  power  of  the  anthrax 
bacillus,  the  spirillum  of  relapsing  fever,  the  tubercle 
bacillus,  the  glanders  bacillus,  the  diphtheria  bacillus,  the 
streptococcus  of  erysipelas  and  of  puerperal  fever,  the 
micrococcus  of  pneumonia,  etc.  The  prevention  of  hydro- 
phobia by  Pasteur's  method,  the  treatment  of  diphtheria  by 
the  antitoxine,  the  production  of  bovine  vaccine  virus,  and 
other  practical  applications  of  the  knowledge  already  ob- 
tained would  be  impossible  if  those  Avho  are  urging  anti- 
vivisection  legislation  could  have  their  way.  We  cannot 
stop  to  enumerate  the  various  important  practical  benefits 
which  surger}'  has  derived  from  animal  experimentation  ; 
but  the  experience  gained  in  this  way  as  regards  the  com- 
parative value  of  difi:erent  methods  of  ligating  arteries,  of 
closing  wounds  of  the  intestines,  etc.,  has  resulted  in  great 
improvements  in  surgical  technique  and  in  the  saving  of 
numerous  valuable  lives. 

Yet  there  are  those  who  maintain  that  no  valuable  results 
have  been  obtained  by  experiments  upon  the  lower  animals, 
and  the  anti-vivisection  literature,  together  with  mucli  sen- 
sational nonsense,  contains  quotations  from  the  writings  of 
certain  physicians  which  ajDpear  to  support  this  view.  No 
doubt  these  quotations,  to  a  certain  extent,  are  garbled, 
and  in  their  proper  connection  would  not  give  such  pos- 
itive testimony  as  to  the  ignorance  of  the  physicians  to 
whom  they  are  credited.  For  to  deny  the  importance  and 
value  of  the  results  which  have  been  obtained  by  experi- 
ments upon  the  lower  animals  is  to  give  evidence  of  lament- 
able ignorance  as  regards   the  present  position  of  the  bio- 


13 

logical  sciences,  and  especially  of  scientific  medicine.  But 
the  argument  that  no  results  of  importance  have  been  at- 
tained, in  view  of  the  unimpeachable  evidence  to  the  con- 
trary, is  no  longer  given  a  very  prominent  place  in  anti- vivi- 
section literature.  This  seeks  rather  to  carry  on  the  propa- 
ganda, which  had  its  origin  in  England  more  than  twenty 
years  ago,  by  exaggerated  accounts  of  the  cruelty  of  the 
experiments  performed ;  and  the  susceptibilities  of  many 
well-meaning  and  estimable  members  of  the  community  have 
been  aroused  by  the  harrowing  details  of  experiments  which 
they  are  led  to  believe  are  frequently  repeated  in  biological 
and  pathological  laboratories,  but  which  few  of  those  who 
devote  their  lives  to  research  work  in  such  laboratories  have 
ever  witnessed. 

Second.  So  far  as  we  know,  no  evidence  has  been  adduced 
that  cruel  and  unnecessary  experiments  are  being  performed 
in  this  District;  and,  in  our  judgment,  the  proposed  legisla- 
tion is  not  only  unnecessary,  but  would  seriously  interfere 
with  the  progress  of  scientific  investigations  now  being  car- 
ried on  in  the  various  Government  laboratories  in  this  city, 
and  in  general  with  the  advancement  of  scientific  medicine. 

Third.  That  physicians  and  others  engaged  in  investiga- 
tions, having  for  their  object  the  promotion  of  human  knowl- 
edge and  the  prevention  and  mitigation  of  human  suffering, 
are  less  humane  than  the  members  of  the  societies  which  have 
been  organized  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals,  we 
do  not  believe.  To  pass  laws  subjecting  them  to  penalties 
and  to  espionage  by  persons  ignorant  of  the  nature  and  ob- 
jects of  their  experiments,  as  is  proposed,  would  not  only 
seriously  hamper  research  work  in  all  lines  of  biological  in- 
vestigation, but  would  be  an  uncalled-for  reflection  upon  the 
humanity  of  those  members  of  the  medical  'profession  and 
others  who  are  engaged  in  investigations  of  this  nature.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  anaesthetics  are  habitually  administered  in 
experiments  which  involve  an  amount  of  pain  worthy  of  con- 
sideration ;   but  they  are  not  considered  necessary  in  trifling 


14 

operations,  such  as  the  administration  of  a  hypodermatic  in- 
jection or  the  vaccination  of  a  calf  for  the  purpose  of  propa- 
gating vaccine  virus. 

Fourth.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  why  these  mischievous 
attempts  should  be  made  to  secure  legislation  the  effect  of 
which  would  be  to  restrict  scientific  investigation,  when  there 
is  such  a  broad  field  in  other  directions  in  which  the  crusade 
might  be  carried  on  with  greater  propriety.  The  trapping 
of  animals  for  their  furs  is  going  on  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  the  victims  are  held  for  hours,  and  even  days,  in 
the  sharp  jaws  of  the  trap  before  they  are  finally  dispatched. 
The  huntsman  leaves  his  uncaptured  wounded  game  to  a 
lingering  death.  If  he  is  a  humane  man,  he  quickly  kills 
the  wounded  bird  or  animal  when  captured,  and  it  has  not 
been  thought  necessary  to  pass  laws  requiring  him  to  do  so. 
The  fisherman  plays  the  bass  or  salmon  with  a  sharp  hook 
in  its  mouth  for  an  hour  or  more,  and  no  one  protests,  but 
the  teacher  of  biology  is  to  be  prevented  by  act  of  Congress 
from  exhibiting  the  circulation  of  blood  in  the  blood-vessels 
of  the  mesentery  of  a  curarized  frog.  The  farmer,  by  a  cut- 
ting or  crushing  operation,  castrates  his  colts,  calves,  sheep, 
and  pigs,  and  capons  are  made  by  a  painful  cutting  opera- 
tion, but  no  one  proposes  legislation  requiring  the  use  of 
anaesthetics  in  the  performance  of  these  operations.  Under 
these  circumstances  the  proposition  to  subject  those  engaged 
in  scientific  research  work  which  calls  for  the  performance 
of  experiments  upon  the  lower  animals  to  espionage  and 
penalties,  as  is  proposed  in  the  bill  referred  to,  appears  to 
us  to  be  an  unjust  discrimination  against  a  class  of  men  who 
are  entitled  to  the  highest  consideration.  We  therefore 
respectfully  protest  against  the  enactment  of  any  such  legis- 
lation. 

SAMUEL  C.  BUSEY,  M.  D., 
President  Medical  Society,  D.  C. 

S.  S.  ADAMS,  M.  D., 

Recording  Secretary. 


15 


The  Joint  Commission  of  the  Scientific  Societies 

OF  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Office  of  the  Secretary,  1318  Mass.  Avenue. 
EXECUTIVE    committee: 

OFFICERS. 

President,  Gardiner  G.  Hdbbakd.  Secretary,  J.  Stanley-Brown. 

Vice-President,  G.  Brown  Goode.  Treasurer,  P.  B.  Pierce. 

MEMBERS     AT     LARGE. 

L.  F.  Ward  (Anthropological).  W.  H.   Ashmead  (Entomological). 

Geo.  M.  Sternberg  i Biological).  S.  F.  Emmons  (Geological). 

E.  A.  de  Schweinitz  (Chemical).  G.  K.  Gilbert  (National  Geographic). 

F.  W.  Clarke  (Philosophical). 

Resolved,  That  the  Joint  Commission  of  the  Scientific 
Societies  of  Washington,  composed  of  the  officers  of  the 
several  scientific  societies  of  the  city,  most  earnestly  opposes 
the  legislation  proposed  by  Senate  bill  1552,  entitled  "A 
bill  for  the  further  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals  in  the 
District  of  Columbia." 

Itesolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Commission  the  pro- 
posed legislation  is  unnecessary  and  would  seriously  inter- 
fere with  the  advancement  of  biological  science  in  this 
District ;  that  it  would  be  especially  harmful  in  its  restric- 
tion of  experiments  relating  to  the  cause,  prevention,  and 
€ure  of  the  infectious  diseases  of  man  and  of  the  lower 
animals ;  that  the  researches  made  in  this  department  of 
biological  and  medical  science  have  been  of  immense  benefit 
to  the  human  race ;  and  that,  in  general,  our  knowledge  of 
physiology,  of  toxicology,  and  of  pathology,  forming  the 
basis  of  scientific  medicine,  has  been  largely  obtained  by 
experiments  upon  living  animals,  and  could  have  been  ob- 
tained in  no  other  way. 

Resolved,  That  physicians  and  others  who  are  engaged  in 
research  work  having  for  its  object  the  extension  of  human 
knowledge  and  the  prevention  and  cure  of  disease  are  the 
best  judges  of  the  character  of  the  experiments  required  and 
of  the  necessity  for  using  anaesthetics,  and  that  in  our  judg- 


16 

ment  they  may  be  trusted  to  conduct  such  experiments  in  a 
humane  manner,  and  to  give  anaesthetics  when  required  to 
prevent  pain.  To  subject  them  to  penalties  and  to  espionage, 
as  is  proposed  by  the  bill  under  consideration,  would,  we 
think,  be  an  unjust  and  unmerited  reflection  upon  a  class  of 
men  avIio  are  entitled  to  our  highest  consideration. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to  each 
member  of  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  and  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  the  District  Commissioners. 

I  certify  that  the  foregoing  is  a  correct  copy  of  resolutions 
passed  by  the  Joint  Commission  of  the  Scientific  Societies 
of  Washington  at  the  meeting  held  on  February  19,  1896. 

J.  STANLEY-BEOWN, 

Secretary. 

Resolutions  Adopted  by  the  American  Academy  of 
Medicine,  May  4th,  1896. 

"  The  American  Academy  of  Medicine  desires  to  express 
its  opinion  that  no  legislation  is  required  or  desirable  in  the 
United  States  in  regard  to  the  so-called  practice  or  subject 
of  '  vivisection,'  and  for  the  following  reasons  : 

"  1.  Because  only  by  careful  discrimination  and  collection 
of  facts  can  public  and  legislative  opinion  be  truthfully 
formed.  To  illustrate  but  a  single  of  many  popular  errors 
upon  this  subject,  the  dissection  or  use  of  live  animals  by 
scientific  men  is  termed  '  vivisection,'  when  the  same  pro- 
ceeding carried  out  by  the  butcher,  the  hunter,  restaurant 
keeper,  cooks,  etc.,  does  not  enter  into  the  consideration, 
neither  do  the  cruelties  in  the  use  and  keeping  of  domestic 
animals,  nor  those  in  the  death  of  animals  for  purposes  other 
than  those  of  experimental  medicine. 

"  2.  While  admitting  and  deploring  the  facts  of  abuses  in 
the  past  and  in  European  countries — to  a  very  limited  extent 
also  in  America — it  is  the  conscientious  belief  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  academy  that  at  present  with  us  such  abuses  do 
not  exist,  nor  are  they  in  danger  of  occurring  to  a  degree  jus- 
tifying or  calling  for  legislation,  and,  under  the  circumstances. 


17 

the  evils  that  would  inevitably  result  from  such  legislation 
would  greatly  exceed  the  benefits  to  be  obtained  by  it.  The 
charge  implied  or  openly  made  that  physicians,  either  in 
theory  or  practice,  are  more  cruel  than  other  classes  of  the 
community  is  a  fancy  or  prejudice  of  ignorance  which  can- 
not be  proved,  and  which  we  strenuously  deny. 

"  3.  Legislation  upon  the  subject  of  cruelty  to  animals 
should  be  so  framed  as  to  include  consideration  of  cruelties 
infinitely  greater  and  more  extensive  in  many  other  fields  of 
human  activity  at  present  not  actively  objected  to  by  those 
who  urge  legislation  as  regards  experimental  medicine.  Not 
only  this,  but  legislation  concerning  the  matters  should  be 
broadened  out  in  order  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  species 
of  birds  and  other  animals  by  the  votaries  of  fashion,  by  the 
hunters,  etc.,  to  prevent  derangement  of  the  delicate  balance 
of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  upon  which  civilization  ulti- 
mately and  largely  rests,  to  prevent  deforestation  of  the  head-  • 
waters  of  our  streams,  to  establish  sanctuaries  or  resorts  for 
animals,  and  many  such  biologic  requisites ;  as  also  to  estab- 
lish such  arrangements  with  other  nations  as  will  insure  their 
permanent  and  extensive  effectualizatiou. 

"  4.  Legislation  upon  such  a  subject  of  vital  importance 
to  a  peculiarl}"  technical  branch  of  science  should  be  framed 
under  the  guidance  and  by  the  aid  of  those  who  by  educa- 
tion and  experience  are  alone  fitted  and  capable  of  forming 
and  expressing  sound  judgments  upon  it,  i.  e.,  the  experts  in 
the  special  subjects.  It  would  be  as  absurd  to  have  legisla- 
tion as  to  vaccination  inspired  and  shaped  by  laymen  who 
were  anti-vaccinationists,  without  weighing  the  opinion  of 
the  medical  profession,  as  to  allow  legislation  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  vivisection  by  la\mien  who  are  anti-vivisectionists,  and 
even  inexpert  in  any  branch  of  inductive  science. 

"  5.  The  American  Academy  of  Medicine,  therefore,  urges 
the  members  and  physicians  generally  to  write  to  their  rep- 
resentatives in  Congress  (or  wherever  legislation  of  the  kind 
in  question  is  proposed),  and  otherwise  seek  to  influence 
public  and  ofhcial  opinion  against  the  passage  of  a  particu- 
larly ill-advised  bill  before  Congress,  to  wit :  Senate  bill  No. 
1552,  introduced  by  Mr.  McMillan,  entitled  'A  bill  for  the 
further  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.'  In  the  opinion  of  the  academy,  the  passage  of 
the  bill  would  be  harmful  to  the  true  interests  of  medical 
and  social  science  and  to  the  public  health." 


18 

These  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Amer- 
ican Academy  of  Medicine,  and  in  the  minds  of  unprejudiced 
persons  will  no  doubt  outweigh  the  garbled  extracts,  which 
have  been  circulated  by  the  opponents  of  animal  experimen- 
tation, from  the  presidential  address  of  a  former  president 
of  the  academy — Dr.  Theophilus  Parvin,  of  Philadelphia. 

In  this  connection  we  would  invite  attention  to  the  follow- 
ing quotation  from  the  same  address.  With  reference  to  re- 
strictive legislation  Dr.  Parvin  says  : 

"  Should  the  law  restrict  the  performance  of  vivisection  ? 
I  think  it  ought,  chiefly  as  an  expression  of  public  sentiment 
and  for  the  moral  effect ;  for  violations  of  its  provisions 
could  usually  only  be  discovered  by  a  system  of  espionage, 
by  the  employment  of  detectives,  of  spies  and  informers,  ut- 
terly alien  to  our  system  of  government,  and  who  are,  as  a 
rule,  abominable." 

Protest  of  the  Biological  Society  of  Washington, 
Signed  by  the  Members  of  the  Society  and  Trans- 
mitted to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

We,  the  undersigned,  members  of  the  Biological  Society 
of  Washington,  do  hereby  respectfully  protest  against  the 
passage  of  the  bill  entitled  "A  bill  for  the  further  prevention 
of  cruelty  to  animals  in  the  District  of  Columbia,"  S.  1552, 
or  the  substitute  which  is  now  proposed,  because  such  legis- 
lation is,  in  our  opinion,  entirely  uncalled  for,  and  because 
on  account  of  the  numerous  restrictions  and  unduly  severe 
penalties,  it  is  calculated  to  bring  law  into  contempt. 

It  has  not,  to  our  knowledge,  even  been  alleged  that 
there  is  any  abuse  of  the  practice  of  vivisection  in  the 
District  of  Columbia. 
Specificall}-,  we  object  to  it  on  the  following  grounds : 
That  it  prevents  the  verification  of  discoveries  or  of  alleged 
discoveries  in  biological  sciences. 

Important  curative  properties  are  often  ascribed  to 
substances,  or  methods  of  procedure  advised,  which  no 
one  should  adopt  without  careful  verification. 


19 

That  it  unjustly  restricts  licenses  to  perform  experiments 
on  living  animals  to  persons  over  25  3'ears  of  age  unless  they 
are  graduates  of  some  medical  college  and  duly  authorized 
to  practice  in  the  District. 

This  would  prevent  all  experiments,  however  neces- 
sary, by  students,  and    some    of   the    most    important 
physiological  Avork  has  been  done  by  undergraduates  in 
the  preparation  of  theses. 
That  by  its  wording  the  bill  would   permit  the  proposed 
inspectors  to  interrupt    or  interfere    with    any    delicate  or 
dangerous  experiments  which  might  be  in   progress  at  the 
time  of  their  visit  to  any  laboratory. 

Such  interference  might  prevent  the  successful  ending 
of  a  long  series  of   experiments,  or  might  even  endanger 
the  life  of  the  operator. 
That  nothing  is  said  as  to  the  fitness  or  proper  qualified" 
tions  of  the  proposed  inspectors. 

B}'  the  wording  of  the  bill,  any  person,  no  matter 
how  ignorant,  incompetent,  or  biased  in  judgment,  may 
be  appointed  an  inspector,  and  the  views  expressed  by 
the  advocates  of  this  legislation  justify  the  apprehen- 
sion that  unfriendly  and  intolerant  persons  will  be  urged 
for  these  positions. 

Memorial  of  the  Washington  Chemical  Society. 

Washington,  D.  C,  3fay  Ui/i,  1896. 
In  view  of  the  proposed  legislation  now  before  the  Sen- 
ate in  the  form  of  a  bill  entitled  "An  act  for  the  further  pre- 
vention of  cruelty  to  animals  in  the  District  of  Columbia," 
which,  however,  is  practically  an  act  to  limit,  and  eventually 
stop,  all  experiments  upon  animals  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, the  Chemical  Society  of  Washington,  including  among 
its  members  a  number  of  the  most  prominent  chemists  in 
the  countr}',  desires  to  present  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  a  formal  and  positive  protest  against  the  enactment 
of  any  legislation  upon  the  subject  of  vivisection. 


20 

The  laws  at  present  on  the  statute  books  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  if  properly  carried  out,  will  apply  to  all  cases 
of  cruelty  to  animals  which  exist  in  this  District. 

The  proposed  bill  is  objectionable  for  very  many  reasons. 
The  penalties  prescribed  for  the  infraction  of  the  law  are 
preposterous.  An  expert  who  did  not  happen  to  possess  a 
permit  from  the  District  Commissioners  for  the  performance 
of  experiments  upon  animals  might  suddenly  have  placed  in 
his  hands  material  the  dangerous  character  of  which  could 
only  be  determined  by  an  immediate  experiment  upon  an 
animal.  Should  such  a  test  be  made  without  a  license, 
though  possibly  the  lives  of  hundreds  of  people  were  involved, 
the  experimenter  would  be  subject  to  an  enormous  tine  and 
imprisonment  for  having,  in  the  interests  of  humanity,  inoc- 
ulated a  guinea-pig  or  a  rabbit  or  some  other  animal  without 
a  formal  permit  from  the  District  Commissioners. 

While  the  majority  of  the  members  of  our  society  are  not 
directly  engaged  in  experiments  in  which  animals  are  used, 
we  know  that  in  certain  lines  of  work — toxicology,  materia 
medica,  biochemistry,  and  the  like — animal  experimentation 
is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  advancement  of  knowledge. 

The  agitators  of  the  proposed  legislation  have  not  been 
able  to  show  a  single  instance  of  cruel  experiments  conducted 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  either  in  any  of  the  laboratories 
or  medical  colleges  or  public  schools,  consequently  there  is 
no  need  for  any  law  on  the  subject.  Furthermore,  Wash- 
ington is  becoming  the  centre  of  education  for  the  entire 
United  States.  Four  large  universities  are  located  here ; 
several  more  are  in  prospect,  and  the  proposed  legislation 
would  hamper  and  eventually  destroy  all  possibility  for  ad- 
vanced post-graduate  work  in  the  biological  sciences,  and 
indirectly  in  all  allied  branches. 

We  therefore,  collectively  as  a  society,  and  individually 
as  members,  desire  to  protest  strenuously  against  any  legis- 
lation on  the  subject  of  vivisection,  deeming  it  to  be  unwise, 
unnecessary,  and  in  direct  opposition  to  the  spirit  which  has 


21 

for  a  number  of  years  actuated  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment in  encouraging  the  advancement  of  science.  We  hold 
further  that  sucli  legislation  would  be  a  direct  contradiction 
of  the  well-known  practical  results  that  have  already  been 
obtained  by  scientific  investigations  conducted  under  the 
Government,  which  have  made  possible  the  saving  of  many 
thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  property  and  many  human 
lives. 

Yours  very  respectfully, 
(Signed)         E.  A.  de  Schweinitz,  Ph.  D.,  M.  D., 

President,   Washijigtoii  Cheinical  Society. 
A.  C.  Peale,  M.  D.,  Secretary. 
W.  D.  BiGELOW,  Ph.  D., 
W.  G.  Bkown,  Ph.  D., 

Vice-Presidents. 
Charles  E.  Munroe,  Ph.  D., 
W.  P.  Cutler,  B.  S., 
H.  N.  Stokes,  Ph.  D., 
Y.  K.  Chesnut,  B.  S., 
F.  P.  Dewey,  Ph.  B., 
Mendjers  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

Memorial  of  the  Entomological    Society  of 
Washington. 

Washington,  May  7,  1896. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Pepresentatives 
of  the  Zhiited  States  : 

The  Entomological  Society  of  Washington  respectfully  but 
most  urgently  protests  against  the  proposed  legislation  em- 
bodied in  Senate  bill  1552,  and  in  the  proposed  substitute 
bill  recently  presented  to  the  Senate  Committee  on  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia. 

The  protest  against  the  original  bill,  Avhile  directed  against 
many  of  the  provisions-preserved  in  the  proposed  substitute, 


22 

is  based  chiefly  upon  the  ground  that  said  bill  would  effectu- 
ally prohibit  all  investigation  in  economic  entomology  into 
the  best  methods  of  meeting  and  destroying  the  numerous 
insect  pests  which  cause  so  much  damage  to  the  agricultural 
interests  of  the  country. 

Although  the  insertion  of  the  v/ord  "  veriedrnie''  in  the 
proposed  substitute  bill  completely  frees  us  in  our  entomo- 
logical investigations  from  the  pernicious  legislation  which 
threatens  our  colleagues  in  vertebrate  zoology  and  medicine, 
we  still  respectfully  but  urgently  protest  against  the  passage 
of  the  bill  upon  the  following  grounds : 

Firat.  While  not  directly  affected  by  the  provisions  of  the 
bill,  we  as  well  as  the  rest  of  the  community  would  be  indi- 
rectly afl'ected. 

Secondly.  As  scientific  men,  accustomed  to  the  conditions 
governing  scientific  research  work,  we  see  provisions  in  said 
substitute  which  will  greatly  hamper  specialists  in  vertebrate 
zoology  and  medicine  in  their  investigations. 

Thirdly.  Personal  acquaintance  with  our  colleagues,  and 
personal  knowledge  of  the  class  of  work  they  are  doing  and 
of  the  dangers  to  which  they  are  often  subjected  in  their  ex- 
periments, convince  us  that  the  proposed  legislation  is  un- 
called for,  unjust,  and  only  calculated  to  bring  law  into  con- 
tempt. 

Foitrtlily.  Accepting  the  expression  "  cruel  experiments  " 
as  meaning  experiments  upon  animals  in  which  there  is  an 
unjustifiable  infliction  of  pain,  we  declare  that  we  know  of 
no  cruel  experiments  which  have  ever  been  performed  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  by  any  of  our  colleagues. 

Fifthly.  We  are  firml}-  of  the  conviction  that  if  any  "  cruel 
experiments "  should  be  performed  by  any  men,  the  re- 
bukes and  contempt  which  such  men  would  justly  earn 
and  receive  from  their  own  colleagues  would  be  much  more 
effectual  in  preventing  a  repetition  of  such  experiments  than 
any  system  of  espionage,  fine,  or  imprisonment. 

Sixthly.  We  see  no  difference  in  principle   between  the 


23 

system  of  espionage  proposed  iu  the  bill  and  a  proposition 
to  institute  an  inspection  of  the  amphitheatres  of  hospitals 
during  critical  surgical  operations,  or  an  inspection  of  the 
private  sick  room  during  professional  calls  by  family  physi- 
cians. 

Seventhly.  We  see  no  more  necessity  for  passing  a  law 
that  experimenters  shall  administer  anaesthetics  whenever 
possible  than  a  law  compelling  surgeons  to  use  anresthetics 
in  operations.  In  both  fields  of  work  occasions  arise  when 
chloroform  or  ether  cannot  be  used ;  in  both  fields  of  Avork 
the  common  sense  of  humanity  Avould  naturally  lead  the 
operator  to  use  anaesthetics  if  possible,  even  if  the  question 
of  utility  were  set  entirely  aside. 

Eighthly.  The  bill  prevents  the  confirmation  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  alleged  scientific  discoveries  made  elsewhere,  a  pro- 
vision which  can  result  only  in  prolonging  agony  and  caus- 
ing death  in  many  cases. 

Ttnthly.  As  zoologists,  we  fail  to  see  why  a  cat,  a  disease- 
spreading  dog,  a  horse,  ass,  or  kicking  mule,  is  any  more 
worthy  of  the  special  attention,  deliberation,  and  consider- 
ation of  the  United  States  Congress  than  .t<s  the  cow,  hog, 
rabbit,  or  chicken. 

Eleventhly.  The  reports  to  be  made  by  investigators,  as 
provided  for  in  the  bill,  would  lead  to  the  premature  disclos- 
ure of  conclusions  only  half  established. 

Memorial  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington. 

Washington,  D.  C,  May  14,  1896. 

The  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington,  through  its 
committee  appointed  for  that  purpose,  respectfully  protests 
against  the  legislation  proposed  for  the  restriction  of  animal 
experimentation  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  for  the  follow- 
ing reasons  : 

First.  No  satisfactoi-y  evidence  has  been  presented  show- 
ing that  abuses  exist  in  this  District  calling  for  the  legisla- 
tive action  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 


24 

Second.  We  recognize  the  fact  that  the  progress  of  science 
in  all  departments  of  l)iological  research,  and  especially  the 
advancement  of  scientific  medicine,  depends  upon  experi- 
ments made  upon  living  animals. 

Third.  We  believe  that  those  engaged  in  scientific  inves- 
tigations are  the  best  judges  of  the  necessity  for  experiments 
made  by  them,  of  the  animals  upon  which  such  experiments 
should  be  made,  of  the  methods  to  be  employed,  etc. 

Fourth.  We  regard  the  proposed  legislation  not  only  as 
unnecessary  and  unwise,  but  as  an  unjust  reflection  upon  the 
humanit)^  of  those  who  resort  to  animal  experimentation 
for  the  solution  of  the  numerous  and  important  biological 
problems  which  remain  undetermined. 

(Signed)  F.  W.  Clarke, 

President  Philoso2)hieal  Society. 
(Signed)  Bernard  E.  Green, 

Secretary  Philosojyhical  Society. 
(Signed)  W.  C.  Winlock, 

Secretary  Philosophical  Society. 

Baltimore,  May  121/-,  1896. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Medical  Board  of  the  Johns  Hopkins 
Hospital  the  following  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted  : 

'■'■Resolved,  That  the  Medical  Staff  of  the  Johns  Hopkins 
Hospital  hereby  enter  their  protest  against  the  passage  of 
the  bill  by  Congress  intended  to  control  and  restrict  experi- 
mentation upon  animals  in  the  Government  laboratories, 
the  medical  schools,  and  other  institutions  of  the  higher 
learning  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  they  desire  to  ex- 
press their  approval  of  the  memorials  and  resolutions  re- 
lating to  the  subject  adopted  by  the  National  Academy  of 
Sciences,  the  Association  of  American  Physicians,  and  the 
American  Medical  Association." 

(Signed)  HENKY  M.  HURD, 

Chairman  of  Medical  Board. 

The  following  quotation  is  from  a  recent  number  of  the 
leading  medical  journal  of  the  world — The  London  Lancet : 


25 

"  It  is  even  said  now  that  the  very  successes  of  vivisection 
constitute  the  present  danger,  and  that  it  specially  behooves 
us  to  be  on  our  guard  lest  we  blind  ourselves  to  the  moral 
objections  to  a  practice  which  holds  out  such  dazzling  entice- 
ments. We  leave  the  anti-vivisectionists  to  reconcile,  if  they 
can,  their  present  with  their  past  attitude  on  the  subject. 
Logical  consistency  is  not  their  strong  point,  and  we  have 
no  doubt  they  will  again  shift  the  issue  if  such  a  course 
should  appear  to  be  demanded  by  the  exigencies  of  their 
position. 

"  The  real  contention  just  now  is  this  :  Vivisection  has  con- 
ferred benefits  on  humanity  and  oflfers  the  prospect  of  further 
and  probably  even  greater  benefits  in  the  future ;  but  we 
have  no  right  to  purchase  those  benefits  at  the  cost  of  suf- 
fering to  the  lower  animals,  and  if  we  do  so  our  moral  nature 
suffers  in  the  process,  and  in  the  long  run  the  loss  to  humanity 
will  be  greater  than  the  gain.  This  is  a  perfectl}^  intelligible 
argument  and  one  which  we  regard  with  unfeigned  respect. 

"  Cruelty  to  the  lower  animals  is  one  of  the  basest  and 
meanest  of  vices,  and,  as  Charles  Darwin  said  upon  a  memor- 
able occasion, is  'worthy  of  detestation  and  contempt.'  The 
real  question  turns  upon  what  is  meant  by  cruelty.  The  al- 
most universal  practice  of  humanity  permits  the  killing  of 
animals  for  food.  It  is  idle  to  contend  that  this  does  not  in- 
volve immense  suffering.  The  modes  of  slaughter  employed 
are  not,  and  perhaps  cannot  be,  easy  and  painless.  Even  if 
they  were,  the  mere  deprivation  of  healthful  and  joyous  ex- 
istence— such  as  that  of  the  young  lamb  upon  the  hillside — 
must  be  reckoned  cruelty,  if  we  are  to  be  strict  in  our  defi- 
nition of  the  term.  But  we  have  grown  accustomed  to  these 
things,  and  we  eat  our  dinners  without  any  qualms  regarding 
our  moral  right  to  our  beefsteak  or  our  leg  of  mutton. 
Further,  the  methods  of  preparing  animals  for  slaughter  and 
for  the  table  are  often  such  as  involve  great  and  unnecessary 
sufiering,  but  our  moralists  are  silent  upon  the  subject  of 
jpate  defoie  gras  and  crimped  salmon.  Stronger  still  is  the 
case  of  sport.  Hunting,  fishing,  and  shooting  are  all  pur- 
sued at  the  expense  of  much  suffering  on  the  part  of  the 
lower  animals,  and  the  argument  is,  of  necessity,  in  many 
cases  at  least,  wholly  inapplicable.  We  are  not  disposed  to 
assail  sport,  in  defence  of  which  much  may  be  said,  but  we 
are  deliberately  of  opinion  that   there  is   more  suffering  in- 


26 

flicted  on  the  English  and  Scotch  moors  during  a  single  week 
in  September  than  in  all  the  biological  laboratories  of  Europe 
in  a  year.  Can  vivisection  be  condemned  and  sport  exoner- 
ated ?  We  hold  that  the  case  in  favor  of  the  former  is  in- 
comparably stronger  than  that  in  favor  of  the  latter.  The 
advancement  of  knowledge,  the  mitigation  of  human  misery, 
the  prevention  of  disease — surely  these  are  infinitely  higher 
and  nobler  motives  for  the  infliction  of  pain  than  mere  health- 
ful exercise  and  transient  enjoyment.  We  confess  to  feel- 
ings of  wonder  and  indignation  when  we  see  the  biological 
investigator  assailed  with  opprobrium  while  the  sportsman  is 
exonerated  or  applauded,  and  we  regard  such  an  attitude  as 
worthy  only  of  those  days  when  it  was  a  crime  to  examine  a 
corpse,  and  when  Vesalius  ran  the  gauntlet  of  sharp  per- 
sonal peril  in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  science  of  an- 
atomy. Our  duty  to  the  lower  animals  is  too  large  a  subject 
for  us  to  consider  here.  We  repeat  that  unnecessary  cruelty 
is  odious  and  loathsome,  but  life  is  difficult,  disease  and  suf- 
fering are  terrible  realities,  and  we  have  no  doubt  in  our 
minds  that  the  most  enlightened  humanity  will  continue  to 
countenance  as  necessary  and  unavoidable  the  infliction  of 
a  measure  of  pain  upon  the  lower  animals  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind." 

YlVISECTION  IN  THE  PuBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  the  Superintendent 
of  Public  Schools  in  the  District  of  Columbia : 

Office  of  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools, 
Franklin  School, 
Washington,  D.  C,  April  "lUh,  1896. 
Dear  Sir  :  In  answer  to  your  favor  of   the   16th   inst.  I 
beg  to  say  as  follows  : 

First.  Vivisection  does  not  take  place  in  any  form  in  any 
of  the  public  schools  of  the  District  of  Columbia  by  au- 
thority. 

Second.  Vivisection  has  never  been  practised  in  the  schools 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to 
ascertain  after  the  most  diligent  inquiry. 


27 

Third.  No  legislation  is  necessary  on  this  subject,  because 
the  authorities  of  the  schools  are  radically  opposed  to  vivi- 
section except  by  experts  for  scientific  purposes,  and  will 
do  everything  in  their  power,  without  legislation,  to  prevent 
its  occurrence  in  the  public  schools. 

I  suspect  that  if  it  has  been  thought  by  any  one  that  vivi- 
section is  practised  the  impression  has  come  from  the  fact 
that  much  dissection  is  practised  in  the  teaching  of  physiol- 
ogy, as  our  method  of  teaching  is  objective  whenever  it  can 
be  made  so.  Every  school,  therefore,  draws  heavily  upon 
the  neighboring  markets  for  specimens  of  eyes,  lungs,  brains, 
joints,  sections  of  bone  and  muscle,  etc. 
I  am, 

Yours  very  respectfully 

(Signed)  W.  B.  POWELL, 

Supt. 
Dr.  Ch.  Wardell  Stiles. 

Vivisection  and  Dissection  in  the  Public  Schools.* — In 
its  March  number.  Our  Animal  Friends,  which  is  the 
organ  of  the  American  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Animals,  justly  deprecates  the  enactment  of  a  law  "  to 
prohibit  the  (sic)  vivisection  and  dissection  in  the  public 
schools  of  this  State  "  (New  York),  as  a  bill  is  entitled  that 
was  before  the  legislature  recently.  Our  contemporary 
says  : 

"During  the  long  experience  of  our  society  it  has  been 
found  that  nothing  obstructs  our  work  more  surely  than  at- 
tempted needless  special  legislation,  and  it  rarely  happens 
that  a  session  of  the  legislature  passes  without  the  intro- 
duction of  some  well-meant  bill,  the  only  certain  effect  of 
which  would  be  to  Aveaken,  and  not  to  strengthen,  the 
present  excellent  laws  for  the  protection  of  animals.  The 
bill  above  quoted  is  distinctly  of  that  class ;  and  we  shall 
now  proceed  to  show  (1)  that  the  evil  which  it  is  intended 

*From  the  New  York  Medical  Journal  of  March  21.  1896. 


28 

to  correct  does  not  exist  in  this  State ;  (2)  that  the  existing 
law  is  amply  sufficient  to  prohibit  its  introduction  and  to 
suppress  it  if  it  should  be  introduced  ;  and  (3)  that  the  bill, 
if  it  should  be  enacted,  would  have  no  other  eti'ect  than  to 
weaken  the  provisions  of  the  present  law  in  this  very  matter 
of  vivisection. 

"  Since  November  last  we  have  had  repeated  statements 
made  to  us  that  vivisection  has  been  practised  in  three  of 
the  public  schools  of  the  State.  These  three  are  the  only 
schools  against  which  the  charge  has  been  brought. 
In  one  of  them  the  evidence  is  so  absurdly  self-con- 
tradictory as  to  prove  the  whole  story  to  be  a  mere 
canard,  and  an  investigation  into  the  other  two  has 
proved  the  charge  to  be  equally  unfounded.  The  prin- 
cipal of  one  of  the  schools  writes  in  the  following  explicit 
terms :  '  Vivisection  never  has  been  and  never  is  likely  to  be 
practised  in  our  school ; '  and  the  principal  of  the  other 
writes,  not  less  explicitly  :  '  No  demonstrations  or  experi- 
ments upon  living  animals  have  ever  been  performed  here.' 
As  these  are  the  only  schools  in  which  so  much  as  a  rumor 
of  the  practice  of  vivisection  has  reached  us,  and  as  we  be- 
lieve it  would  not  be  possible  for  that  practice  to  be  intro- 
duced into  any  part  of  this  State  without  some  report  of  it 
reaching  the  office  of  our  society,  we  feel  ourselves  at  liberty 
to  affirm  with  confidence  that  vivisection  is  not  practised  in 
the  public  schools  of  the  State  of  New  York.  It  follows,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  that  no  law  is  required  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  a  practice  Avhicli  does  not  in  fact  exist.     *     *     * 

"  For  these  reasons — because  the  nefarious  practice  of 
vivisection  in  the  public  schools  does  not  exist  in  the  State 
of  New  York  ;  because  the  present  law  is  amply  sufficient 
for  its  suppression  if  it  did,  or  should  exist  ;  and  because 
the  only  effect  of  the  proposed  law,  so  far  as  vivisection  is 
concerned,  would  be  to  bring  the  present  law  into  doubt,  and 
so  to  weaken  its  efficiency — therefore,  we  are  constrained, 
with  entire  respect  for  the  promoters  of  the  measure,  to  hope 
that  it  may  not  be  passed  by  the  legislature." 

BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 
Dr.  Daniel  E.  Salmon,  Chief. 
The  following  brief  statement   of  investigations    by  the 
Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  though  not  complete,  is  suffi- 


29 

cient  to  set  forth  the   vahie  of  animal  experimentation   to 
the  agricultural  and  commercial  interests  of  the  country  : 

DIVISION  OF  ANIMAL  PATHOLOGY.     (1884-1896.) 
Present  Chief,  Dr.  V.  A.  Mooke.     Former  Chief,  De.  Theobold  Smith. 

The  discovery  of  the  power  to  produce  immunity  with  ster- 
ilized cultures. 

Investigations  into  the  various  methods  of  protecting  swine 
against  swine  plague  and  hog-cholera  by  inoculations. 

Investigations  to  determine  if  the  disease  of  cattle  existing 
in  the  United  States  in  1884  was  identical  with  the  contagious 
pleuro-pneumonia  of  Europe. 

The  discovery  of  the  bacillus  of  swine  plague.  The  de- 
termination of  its  power  to  resist  disinfectants,  and  the  meth- 
ods for  preventing  the  spread  of  the  disease. 

Investigation  to  determine  if  the  vaccine  for  the  disease 
known  as  roxiget  of  swine  could  be  used  to  prevent  hog- 
cholera. 

The  determination  of  several  varieties  of  hog-cholera  and 
swine  plague. 

The  discovery  of  the  specific  cause  of  Texas  fever,  the 
way  it  is  transmitted  from  the  southern  to  northern  cat- 
tle, and  consequently  the  development  of  methods  by  which 
cattle  from  the  infected  districts  in  the  South  may  be  shipped 
to  the  Northern  markets  without  spreading  the  disease. 

The  discovery  of  the  cause  of  a  destructive  disease  in  tur- 
keys and  the  method  by  which  the  disease  is  trausmittted. 

Experiments  which  have  shown  that  a  disease  of  cattle 
known  as  the  cornstalk  disease  is  not  a  contagious  disease. 

The  determination  of  rabies  in  outbreaks  of  cattle  disease, 
the  nature  of  which  was  heretofore  not  understood. 

The  diagnosis  of  rabies  in  a  large  number  of  dogs  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  and  vicinity. 

Many  investigations  which  have  shed  much  light  upon  the 
variability  of  infectious  diseases,  and  upon  the  efficiency  of 
attenuated,  filtered,  and  heated   cultures,  blood  serum  from 


30 

immune  and  healthy  animals  in  producing  immunity  against 
infectious  diseases  of  animals,  such  as  hog-cholera  and  swine 
plague. 

The  discovery  of  pathogenic  bacteria  resembling  the  swine- 
plague  bacillus  iu  the  air  passages  of  a  large  percentage  of 
the  domesticated  animals.  This  is  important  in  explaining 
the  cause  of  sporadic  pneumonia. 

Investigations  into  the  pathology  of  diphtheria  in  poultry. 

Investigations  into  the  pathologj  of  sporadic  pneumonia 
which  have  been  of  great  value  commercially,  as  it  has  fre- 
quently been  diagnosed  contagious  pleuro-pneumonia. 

Many  investigations  into  the  nature  of  glanders,  anthrax, 
symptomatic  anthrax  and  tuberculosis,  which  have  been  of 
great  value  in  enabling  a  positive  diagnosis  to  be  made  and 
means  afforded  for  preventing  their  spread  to  other  animals, 
and  possibly  man. 

BIOCHEMIC  LABOKATORY.     (1890-189G.) 
Dr.  E.  A.  DE  ScHWEiNiTZ,  Chief. 

Isolation  of  the  poisons  of  the  hog-cholera  germ  and 
their  relation  to  immunity  from  this  disease. 

Isolation  of  the  poisons  of  the  swine-plague  germ  and 
their  relation  to  immunity. 

Further  study  of  the  poisons  of  the  glanders  bacilli  and 
their  relation  to  immunity  and  the  practical  use  of  mallein. 

Further  study  of  the  poisons  of  the  tuberculosis  bacillus 
and  the  practical  value  and  use  of  tuberculin. 

The  isolation  and  study  of  the  attenviated  tuberculosis 
bacillus  and  its  relation  to  immunity. 

The  isolation  and  study  of  an  attenuated  diphtheria 
bacillus. 

The  possibility  of  the  transmission  of  disease  by  oleomar- 
garine, etc. 

The  immunizing  property  of  the  blood  serum  of  animals 
immune  to  the  hog-cholera  and  swine-plague  germs. 

The  immunizing  property  of  the  serum  of  animals  ren- 
dered resistant  to  tuberculosis. 


31 

ZOOLOGICAL  LABOEATORY.     (1891-1896.) 
Dr.  Ch.  Waedell  Stiles. 

Experiments  upon  the  life  history  of  various  animal  par- 
asites, as  : 

Determination  of  the  life  history  and  American  interme- 
diate host  of  the  giant  thorn-headed  worm  {Echinorhyndms 
gigns). 

Refutation  of  the  supposed  direct  development  of  the 
adult  cestodes  {^axiicwl-Avly  Moniezia  exjjansa  and  31.  pia- 
nissimo) of  cattle,  sheep,  and  allied  animals. 

Demonstration  of  the  non-transmissibility  of  Tcenia  sagi- 
nata  to  sheep,  thus  excluding  mutton  as  source  of  infection. 

Numerous  experiments  on  the  transmissibility  and  non- 
transmissibility  of  various  scab  insects  from  one  animal  to 
another. 

Studies  on  the  life  history  of  the  large  American  Fluke 
{Fasciola  magna). 

Numerous  experiments  upon  trichinosis  in  order  to  de- 
termine the  duration  of  "  pickling "  necessary  to  render 
trichinous  pork  wholesome. 

Experiments  in  the  determination  of  doses  of  certain 
anthelmintics. 

Experiments  upon  the  vitality  of  the  eggs  of  certain  par- 
asites. 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 

This  book  is  due  on  the  date  indicated  below,  or  at  the 
expiration  of  a  definite  period  after  the  date  of  borrowing,  as 
provided  by  the  rules  of  the  Library  or  by  special  arrange- 
ment with  the  Librarian  in  charge. 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE  DUE 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE  DUE 

l«AY  13  •! 

>r 

1 

1'           ■ 

0-:\\A 

r-^i^- 

C2e(l14l)MIOO 

QP45 


Annex 


D36 


-,-,.--,•;      ,,      .^...  -p^^ 


